


Thunderbirds & Acid Rain

by CynicalRainbows



Series: Developing Bonds (Or: Martha's relationships with the other girls) [1]
Category: The Wilds (TV 2020)
Genre: Dot is Soft, Fluff, Friendship, Martha is a cinnamon roll, Thunderstorms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:47:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29181252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CynicalRainbows/pseuds/CynicalRainbows
Summary: In which Martha is afraid of thunder and Dot is surprisingly understanding.
Relationships: Martha Blackburn & Dot Campbell
Series: Developing Bonds (Or: Martha's relationships with the other girls) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2142363
Comments: 3
Kudos: 25





	Thunderbirds & Acid Rain

**Author's Note:**

> So I did research Ojibwe mythology while writing this but please please please let me know if I accidently got it wrong!

It’s Sheby’s idea that tasks and task partners should be done on a rotation. Which…..well, yeah she can see why that’s fair and good and everything. On the other hand, it also means having to spend extended periods of time one on one with each other.

She ends up on water detail with Dot and- ok, that’s not the worst, she’d rather be partnered with Dot than Rachel (who just somehow seems to radiate a sort of perpetual irritation, even at the best of times) or Leah (who nice as she is is so deep into her conspiracy theory shit that she can easily imagine having to spend the entire trip to the waterfall having to defend Shelby’s innocence)....

It’s not as if she doesn’t  _ like  _ Dot (it’s not as if she doesn’t like anyone), but it’s  _ very _ easy to feel intimidated by her: Dot is decisive, brisk, tough. She gives the impression of someone who’d be able to survive anything, and beside her, Martha feels very soft and weak, much in the same way that being too near to Fatin for long periods of time makes her feel especially unsophisticated and ungraceful.

(On the other hand, being around Leah makes her feel extremely calm and stable in comparison, so that, she supposes, is a plus.)

They walk mostly in silence, aside from the odd heads-up about errant roots and especially spiky branches. It’s a little awkward- not because of the silence but just because of Dot herself, the way she moves confidently, as if she knows what she’s doing. It’s impossible, she thinks,  _ not _ to feel like a liability, even though she’s managing to keep up and everything.

Still, it’s alright- even the smothering humidity has lessened a little, and the sun has gone in so she isn’t having to squint and-

And then the first peal of thunder rolls out and she jumps so badly that she almost jerks the suitcase out of Dot’s hand. Thank god it’s empty- she can only imagine how awful she’d feel if they had to trek back again because she’d make them spill.

“You ok?”

She nods quickly.

“Trod on a rock-”

There is absolutely no way she is going to tell Dot Campbell, queen of the wilderness and renowned drug dealer and connaisseur of blunt, unsympathetic observations that she is afraid of thunder.

(Ok, so she may have not been exactly subtle on the beach. But given that everyone was pretty distracted by the wind and the rain and the  _ cold _ and doing a pretty good job of making noise on their own, she’s sort of hoping that they won’t have noticed that it was the  _ noise _ that was making her freak out.)

“Do you need to stop? Is your ankle ok?”

She shakes her head.

“No, it’s fine-”

She just needs to hold it together until they get back to the camp and to Toni and hopefully being home- to their makeshift approximation of home anyway- and with the others will be distracting and comforting enough that she’ll be able to keep it together.

(Alright, maybe she and Toni aren’t really speaking. But even spiky silence with Toni feels safer than anything else without her.)

There’s a flash, bright enough to make them both blink and then another crash of thunder that rolls on and on- it isn’t raining yet but the noise is every bit as bad as it was on the beach, the sort of noise that swallows you up.

She winces and bites her lip hard so she doesn’t do anything pathetic like whimper.

(At home, her cats hate storms even more than she does and comforting them has been excellent cover. But the animals who live on this island, if there are any, are probably fine. Probably. She hopes her goat is ok.)

After a second Dot starts walking again.

“Should probably speed it up. Don’t want to be walking through rain if the sky opens up.”

“Y-yeah.”

They walk on and it’s as if the sky is splitting open. She can’t help flinching every time the lightening flashes and she keeps expecting a tree to burst into flames, it’s so loud and so  _ close. _

When she blinks, her lashes are wet and that’s the most embarrassing thing, is she actually going to cry in front of someone she doesn’t know all that well because that would be-

“Hey.”

She’s been too caught up in her own thoughts to even notice that Dot has stopped walking; she almost bumps into her.

“Sorry.”

“It’s ok.” Dot is looking at her a little too closely and it makes her want to turn away. “Uh. Your foot. Is it...ok?”

“What?” Oh yeah. Her foot. “Yes, it’s- it’s fine.” There’s another crash, right above them and she gasps without meaning to, and winces.

“Are you sure? It’s….looking pretty bad.”

“What?”

“What do you say we rest for a bit?”

Before she can even properly answer, Dot is tugging her to sit down. They end up under a little overhang of rock, their backs pressed against the stone, dry leaves crunching as they shift position.

“C’mon. This should keep us dry if it does rain.”

It’s not the most comfortable of places but weirdly, it does make the storm feel a little more bearable. It’s just as loud as ever but she can’t see the lightening forking across the sky and the feeling of having a roof over them is nice, even if it wouldn’t be much good long term. Sitting down, she feels less exposed. Safer.

“You know, I had this thing when I was a kid where I would freak the fuck out when it rained? Learnt about acid rain in science and I got the idea that it was just like….acid falling from the sky. AND that it happened totally randomly. So going out in the rain was like….a sort of weird russian roulette.”

The story surprised a watery chuckle out of her.

“When did you learn about what it really was?”

“I mean officially my dad cleared it up for me when he understood why I point blank refused to set foot outside when it was drizzling.” Dot makes a face. “But I still have a second when it rains when I wonder if it’s gonna be water or acid. Like I’m not  _ afraid  _ of it anymore….but I still get that split second of like  _ Huh that’s a thing that could happen. _ ”

It’s not a bad spot actually- there’s plenty of space for the two of them. Dot thought, for some reason, chooses to sit so close that she and Martha are pressed up against one another. Dot’s knee rests on hers, she can feel Dot’s warmth through her t-shirt and her hair tickles her neck.

“My mom told me that thunder was made by the wings of the thunderbird when I was little, to stop me being scared.”

“Thunderbird like that show with the puppets?”

“What? No, like the- like a spirit. We call them the Animikii.”

“And they’re scary?”

“No, they’re more....” She pauses. “Like they’re big and strong and fierce but in a protective way. They keep people safe from evil spirits.”

“That’s really cool.” Dot actually sounds sincere. “Did it stop you being scared of thunder?”

She gives a little laugh. “I mean. Obviously not.”

Somehow, it doesn’t feel as embarrassing to say as she thought it would.

Normally, she’d move over right away to give Dot some space- but she doesn’t really want to. The storm feels more bearable with Dot’s solid presence next to her. After a few minutes, she does reluctantly try to move a little bit, in the interests of not squashing anyone- but Dot moves with her, and so slowly she allows herself to relax a bit.

She does start to feel guilty about the time they’re wasting though.

“Shouldn’t we get back?”

Her voice is only the tiniest bit shaky and Dot probably doesn’t even notice but she shakes her head anyway.

“Nah, it’s cool. Don’t sweat it.”

She shifts a bit closer and Dot lets her. Her breaths come more steadily. Maybe things will be ok.


End file.
